Game Week 3 is Here!

Also, how to schedule games without torturing other people

Hope you enjoyed your day off. We certainly did, and we hope it shows in the Game Week 3 question set.

As mentioned in the previous post, Game Week 3 will be longer than usual, running from Thursday 3rd November to Saturday 12th November. It will act as a transition week, and from Week 4 we should be back to the usual Monday to Saturday schedule.

Transitioning

Links

• Game Week 3 Draws

• Whatsapp group for Admin Announcements

• Whatsapp group for Player Discussions

Sort out your scheduling etiquette, people!

Every quizzer we’ve spoken to agrees that scheduling their quiz is easily the trickiest part of this league, usually because someone in the group is being unresponsive, or even worse, responding with one-line emails that go “no that doesn’t work for me” or “yeah that’s fine”. The former is bad because well, maybe also tell us what does work for you instead of just shooting down someone else’s proposal and expecting a new one. The latter is pretty bad too, cos it adds no extra information about availability, which might be useful later if the current proposed time doesn’t work out.

Scheduling Best Practices

Anyone can start a scheduling mail, and the earlier one starts, the easier scheduling will be. Check the draws and search for your name. Is your name next to Seat 1? If yes, it’s your job to send the first mail. If not, you can still send a mail and do everyone a favour!

1. If you’re the first person in the group to mail: Firstly, you are already an angel. Well done, and thank you.

   • Share as much information as you possibly can regarding your availability and preferred times this week. Throw in some bullet points to separate the days.

     

   • ALWAYS keep b612quizleague@gmail.com in the thread.

   • Throw in a Proposal at the end of the mail, just on the off-chance that it works for everyone. Eg. “So…Wednesday 9pm?”

2. If you’re the second person in the group to mail:

   • Read the mail that came before. No seriously, read the times.

   • Confirm that b612quizleague@gmail.com is on the thread. If not, add it.

   • Reply by combining the first person’s schedule with your own. In addition, add any preferences you want to highlight, like “I hate Thursdays and all mornings”.

   • End with another Proposal. This one should work for both you and the first person.

3. If you’re the third person in the group to mail:

   • Same as above. End with a Proposal that works for all three of you.

4. If you’re the fourth person in the group to mail:

   • If the current Proposal works for you, go ahead and schedule the game. Reply on the thread saying the game has been scheduled. Give thanks to the scheduling gods.

Of course, all of this is the ‘happy flow’. In reality, some of you with have conflicting schedules and there will need to be some additional emails. But some truths always hold:

• Share detailed schedules. The more information you can provide the others, the better they can manage without you having to check your inbox again every 2 hours.

• Always end with a new Proposal. Call it that, so they know what it is. Your mail should end with “#CurrentProposal: Saturday 3pm?”

• Always keep b612quizleague@gmail.com on the thread.

• If you’re the 4th person to say yes to the Proposal, schedule the game before replying.

With some luck, scheduling should be a breeze. If you’re having trouble, don’t be afraid to reach out to one of the admins of the Whatsapp Groups. We’re here to help, and we should be able to personally message the people who aren’t responding quickly.

Good luck with Week 3!